The Witch
by Loukreswag
Summary: Through a huge misunderstanding and widespread genocide, A king and his daughter get kidnapped by a wicked witch of the surrounding forest.


It all happened too fast. The kingdom was having its spring revival festival when it happened. People were singing and dancing, music was in the air, laughter and joy was everywhere. Mothers and daughters were making crowns from the flowers they found and sewing, Fathers and sons were weaving baskets and gathering fruits, small plays were being acted out, Boys and girls were dancing together. The sky was blue with no clouds in sight. It was a day of joy, a day of peace.

King John sat on his throne next to his wife, Martha, and his young infant, Francis. His father set up their marriage a year and a half ago and a few months prior, they were blessed with their daughter. Since then, Martha has fallen ill and today is the first day her symptoms have not plagued her. Francis was enjoying the loudness of the kingdom's citizens. She was cooing and wiggling as she watched some older children run around, blowing bubbles as they went.

Martha bounced the child in her lap and leaned over towards John, not turning to face him as her eyes focused on a certain group of women congregating by a small pot. It was the Noble men's wives and single countesses. They used to hang around Martha until she got sick, and the woman still held them high in her mind while her husband simply disliked them. Strongly disliked.

"John?"

"Yes, Martha?"

"Can you watch over Francis for me? I want to go catch up with Angelica and the others."

"Go ahead. I got her," John said as he reached for his child, Martha handing her over, quickly but carefully, before dashing over to the group of women.

John smiled down at his daughter and bounced her like her mother did before. The girl looked up at him with the big blue eyes that she inherited from her father and gave John one of the biggest smiles she could muster. Her hair was a light brown, got that from her mother, and her face dusted with freckles. Francis was the best thing he could have ever gained from his marriage to Martha and he would kill thousands of men and destroy millions of kingdoms for her.

The Festival went on like this, even as the sun began to set, the people rejoiced among themselves. Not a single soul ready to turn in for the day. They all would rather stay out and enjoy each other's company than sleep this beautiful day away.

John looked around, taking in everything that was going on, appreciating it all. When was the sky going to look like this again? When would Martha ever feel well on a beautiful day again? When would the kingdom get to spend another day just living instead of worrying over things, big and small? This day would only come once in a long while and John wanted to remember each second of it.

Soon enough, Francis had begun to tire and John bundled her up tighter in his cape. Martha and the woman have disappeared among the crowd, leaving John to assume that she's happy. The king stood up and descended from his throne, handing the sleeping infant over to a servant girl to watch over in his soon-to-be absence. Walking through the sea of people, John came to a stop in front of his favorite circle of men.

Hercules Mulligan, the royal tailor and owner of both chains of tailor shops and breweries across the kingdom. Gilbert Lafayette, a Marquess that spends most of his time drinking and sleeping with various men, especially ones who own breweries and tailor shops, even though he is married with multiple children. Charles Lee, a Baron no one can fucking stand but keep around simply because they felt sad he didn't have any friends outside of one small priest who has turned him down time and time again. Aaron Burr, a Marquess who is silent and rarely tells others what's on his mind but is better with a sword than any other man John has ever known. George Washington, the general of John's armies and the best strategist there is, married with two step-kids whom he loves dearly as if they were his own. Henry Knox, a Baron that knows how to steer anyone in the kingdom that steps out of line and the commander of one of the troops that is seeing one of the countesses in Martha's circle. Nathaniel Greene, one of John's bravest knights and the only man he can trust to get a job done and done quickly. He is also the only one John told about his preferring of men over women.

Aaron tapped John on the shoulder twice, gaining the king's attention, and nodded over to the edge of the woods. Following the Marquess' line of sight, John looks across the field, eyes squinted and searching. He scans the grass and sees nothing until he sees a bush shake, and a pale hand disappear behind it.

"What is that?" He asked, eyes not leaving that bush until the one next to it shakes as well. He sees Aaron shrug out of the corner of his eye as the man takes another sip of his drink.

"I don't know. Maybe a commoner sneaking off, maybe children playing in the woods? I believe that you should handle the situation if it is the later. A shame it would be if anyone was to come to harm."

John nodded and went to make his trek towards the woods when the pale hand reappeared, a small body came with it. A child, barely a teenager, stood up between the two bushes. They had ginger hair hardly even restrained in a loose ponytail held up by thick green ribbon and freckles decorated their face like stars. The child reminded him somewhat of Lafayette except for Lafayette had thicker muscles. Maybe the kid was related to the Marquess.

John turned and addressed the man with furrowed eyebrows and slightly pouted lips. "Gilbert?" He asked. Lafayette turned from Hercules and nodded his acknowledgement of the young king. "Yes, Your Majesty?" John pointed towards the strange figure, who was now walking closer, still very far away from the entire festival but he'll be upon them in moments. "Do you know him? A family member of sorts?" Lafayette shook his head. He squinted his eyes and moved a step or two forward, to get a better look but shook his head again. "They do not belong to my family. My children are the youngest in my bloodline."

George began to walk towards the child, making sure the child did not notice as they seemed to look around at the entire festival instead of the large man coming to them. The child had stopped short of the edges of one of the tents, leaning forward and staring at the little trinkets and toys on the stand. It was like they wanted to reach over and touch them but seemed afraid of what might happen if they did.

George reached out and snatched a small lion toy front right before the child and chuckled when the younger flew back and stared at him in horror. John watched as the general said something that comforted the teen, or at least calmed them, seeing as they came forward and took the toy from his hands. George smiled and nodded towards John and the others, appearing to invite them to join the group to properly introduce themself. Now that they're closer, the teen was quite feminine and small, eerily unhealthy.

George nodded as the possible girl pointed at the group. She looked at them and stared straight at John before copying the general and nodding. Washington smiled and began to head back, the girl following close behind to join them, that is until a man came storming from inside the tent and started yelling at her. She flinched hard and dropped the lion on the ground, more and more people stopped talking and looked at the exchange. George turned around just turned time for the man to advance on the girl and scream in her face. Tears rose in her eyes and her face began to flush red and George made to move to her side when it happened.

The girl reached out and touched the man's face. The man's eyes rolled into the back of his head as he collapsed, body hitting the ground like a heavy sack of stones. His bones beginning to make a loud cracking sound as his body began to twist and snap this way and that until it was a heap of hot blood and torn skin. The skin begun to rot and the smell penetrated the air like fresh cow dung.

All at once, everyone went screaming and running away as the family of the dead man stared in fear.

"Witch!"

"It's a witch!"

The girl turned back to the group of men scared because of the chaos she caused as if she wanted them to stop it. She reached out to grab for George when the general leapt back from her. He yelled, "Do not touch me!" The girl started sobbing as the skies quickly turned grey and the grass dried and shriveled up underneath her very feet. She dropped to her knees and hugged herself, eyes wide open as choked sobs ripped from her throat. Her eyes stayed on John all throughout everything.

The young king felt hands grabbing and pulling him back but soon they disappeared. People dropped like flies, bones cracking, flesh rotting, cries of agony and sorrow filled the air. Heavy rain and hail fell from the sky, bursting his people's skulls, killing them if the mysterious plague did not. Men, women and children alike, dying in front of John but all he could see was the black blots dancing from the corners of his visions around his line sight. He felt a pounding behind his eyes as his vision blurred and darkened. Then, he simply blacked out.


End file.
